Finally have a mortgage now to try and get rid of it asap

beckythemadcow

Hello! Great diary, I need to get back to batch cooking and should probably start a diary too now I'm in [STRIKE]my[/STRIKE] our very own house. I am thinking about having a lodger but not sure how I would deal with the intrusion. How is it going for you?

egoode

Hi Becky,

Glad you are enjoying the diary. I'm finding having a lodger to be working really well for me however it is someone I've known for over 4 years and while we are friends we aren't 'best' friends and have quite different social groups and both of us have busy social lives so we actually hardly see each other.

She's also going to be moving home to Australia in June next year so has also been doing lots of trips on weekends. However I knew it would most likely be like this before she moved in I'm not sure I'll rent the room out to a stranger once she leaves as I do love my privacy and own space and I know I've lucked out with my current flat mate.

egoode

Well I've been getting calls, emails and letters from British Gas saying please don't leave us so I'm guessing my move for my gas to EDF is going through. Funnily when the guy called me and I said I was moving to the EDF Blue+Price promise he said that it was a really good tariff and he didn't try to convince me to stay with British Gas after that.

I feel like I've been getting lots of money in recently last week I got a refund of nearly £40 for an event I was meant to go to in June but was postponed until November and the new date clashed with a friends birthday plans so I couldn't go any more. Then yesterday my flat mate paid me her share for Christmas which is about £500. As both of us are Aussies and have no family on this side of the world we are heading to the Cotswolds for a few days over Christmas which should be really nice. I've allocated the money towards my trip to Canada and the US.

Had some disappointing news last week though as I tried to get income protection insurance in case I can't work for an extended period of time due to an accident or illness and apparently I can't get it because I'm too fat. I'd need to lose about 2 stone and then only a couple of companies would consider me. The broker has suggested getting critical illness cover that would pay off the mortgage should I get ill however he said it's likely to be a lot more expensive than he suggested income protection would have been. I haven't got any quotes yet as unfortunately his mum passed away the day after we spoke but once I do get the quotes I guess I need to decide at what point does the expense for the insurance not be worth it.

However on a brighter note I have managed to apply for a pension account and will soon have £500/month coming out of my business account into it. Apparently that's the best way to do it for tax purposes. I know it's not nearly enough to fund my retirement and will look to increase the amount once I've got the money to redo my loft and kitchen. However I'm also hoping to get a stocks and shares ISA set up soon and that money will also be mainly for my retirement but means it's more accessible should something major happen and I need money before I retire.

I do think sometimes I should have been doing all this about 5-10 years earlier but at least I'm finally doing it and no use regretting not doing it earlier. After all in those 10 year I've had a lot happen such as moving from Australia to the UK, travelling most of Europe and parts of Africa and the Middle East, had my mum pass away unexpectedly, was out of work for 10 months (savings took a massive hit at that time!), then had my Dad come out as transgendered.

It definitely hasn't been easy especially the last 5 years since Mum died. I'm kind of hoping the next 5-10 years won't be quite so eventful!

clarew

I had to pay more than my slim hubby for my critical care policy due to my weight. Hmm still on the upside we are non smokers so that helped and we were 23 when buying the policy so that helped too. Mind you I did think then, what happens if I lose weight (sadly I havent) can we get the £ reduced back down lol!

egoode

clarew wrote: »

I had to pay more than my slim hubby for my critical care policy due to my weight. Hmm still on the upside we are non smokers so that helped and we were 23 when buying the policy so that helped too. Mind you I did think then, what happens if I lose weight (sadly I havent) can we get the £ reduced back down lol!

I did start considering if I should try and lose weight again but I've always struggled with it. I did Weight Watchers for 2 years and on average I lost about half a pound a week so took a massively long time and even then only lost half the weight I needed to. Then I got sick for about 2 months and couldn't exercise and I put all the weight back on in just that short amount of time. After that I now just exercise to feel healthy and try and eat healthily and don't stress over my weight anymore. The annoying thing is I'm fitter than a lot of people that weigh less than me and I have no other health issues, don't smoke and don't drink massive amounts as I go weeks without anything and when I do drink tend to have only 1 or 2 drinks.

egoode

Well the financial advisor I had been dealing with has said he can't get me any sort of insurance however I found online a company that specialises in insurance for people having difficulties finding cover and they specifically mentioned finding insurance for those with high BMI's. He seems to think he may be able to find a solution for me and hopes to give me a better idea by tomorrow afternoon if I can get income protection or not.

In the meantime I'm expanding my cooking skills and today I'm trying to make my first beef stew. Hopefully it turns out nicely, I used a Jamie Oliver recipe I found online although changed the veggies he used slightly, I'm hoping it turns out ok. I used to buy ready meal stews and casseroles a lot and this will definitely work out cheaper than that and I should have quite a few servings I can freeze as well.

egoode

Quick update on the stew it turned out ok although could be improved. I didn't have enough liquid in there so it's a little dry however the meat and vegetables taste good so it's not so bad that it's inedible. I did think I might have had too many veggies in there when I was throwing everything in. According to my flatmate who just got home I should have been checking it every 30 mins or so and maybe have added some liquid while it was cooking. I think it wasn't too bad for a first attempt and I'm sure the next time I cook it I will do it better.

I think I've done more cooking in the last couple of months than I've ever done in my life. I'm a bit surprised but I'm actually quite enjoying learning new recipes.

Pushkin

Good on ya - I don't enjoy cooking and am a big fan of one pot meals and making double portions to freeze extra meals which means one less night of cooking:D

egoode

Hi Pushkin,

I think I'm finding it not too bad as I'm only doing a big cook once every couple of weeks but I generally have 4-5 portions to freeze for later. At the moment in the freezer I've got some Cottage Pies, Chilli con Carne, Potato Casserole (or maybe more a gratin but we called it casserole as kids) and I'm hoping one lasagne but I'm not sure on that one. Then I added the beef stew last night. It's definitely made a difference having freezer space as I never used to be able to cook like this with an undercounter fridge and just a strip of freezer space.
In between I tend to do a stir-fry at least once a week and that's usually 2 portions so I have the left overs the next night. Or it's a chicken breast in the oven with whatever veggies I can find or pasta and sauce, although the sauce usually comes from a jar I should probably start making my own pasta sauces.

egoode

Well last week wasn't too bad. I managed to remember to take my lunch into work each day and I only had 2 nights out which is good as my Christmas drinks, catch ups and parties all start on Wednesday and I seem to have quite a lot of them in the diary.

I've also been cooking and baking this week end. I decided to try another stew as I had heaps of veggies left over and didn't know what to do with them. This time I had half as much meat and less veggies but kept the liquid amount the same and it seems to have worked much better this time around. I'm also going to make some lasagne's tomorrow. Trying to stock up the freezer as I'm unlikely to want to cook on the nights I don't have some Christmas do. The other thing I did this weekend was make some shortbread. I used to watch my Mum make it for years as she would sell them to people around town and at Christmas time would be making them every day. Well my first attempt wasn't quite as good as hers but they tasted pretty good to me.

I was reconciling my accounts on YNAB today and seem to have lost £10 somewhere along the way. I hope it's like what I did a coupe of months ago and it's just in a pocket somewhere and just misplaced. Otherwise I've bought something and completely forgot to enter into the app. I think spending it on something is more likely as I have had a quick look in some pockets

Hope everyone had a good weekend.